Flying out in a week!

You heard it here...I fly back to the northeast on July 30th. I leave from Tel Aviv in the morning and from there it is a 12 hour flight. Fun.
I look forward to going back. It's been too long since I've seen my awesome family and friends who I miss and think about everyday.
There is one drawback though. [building suspense] July 30th on the Jewish Calendar is a holiday. Not a joyous holiday, but the day of Tish b'Av, the ninth of Av. In history, this day brings sadness. To list a couple of things that happened this day:
-Both of the Temples were destroyed that day (The Western Wall in Jerusalem is a wall of the second temple destroyed by the Babylonians led by Nebucheddnezzar)
-WWI began
-The cattle cars transporting the Jews began from the ghettos to Treblinka, the worst of the Camps
-(Biblically)The spies that went to scout out Israel brought back incorrect and slanderous reports that the people believe, and thus they were sentenced to wander in the wilderness for forty years until all the people that believed the report were dead (between the ages of 20 and 60)
-Rome seized Jerusalem and razed it in the following year (the Jerusalem today is built on top of those ruins. dig down 30 feet and you'll hit another city!)
-Jews were expelled from England 1290 and Spain in 1492 (check the records, Colombus had trouble getting out of port because of all the Jews fleeing)

So yea, I get to fly on this date. On this day, we fast for 24 hours. I have to now figure out how that's going to work considering I'm flying westward and thus "back in time." Hopefully I won't have a 36 hour fast. Ha. But once the Temple is rebuilt, the Jews will no longer have to continue doing this. The fast also serves as a reminder that the Jews have become to comfortable in the Diaspora (dispersion after the destruction of the 2nd Temple). As long as the Temple is not here, we are reminded that we are not doing our job. We are to be a "light unto the nations" and right now, we are kind of a joke. Assimilation is the greatest killer of the Jews that all the Holocausts and Pogroms combined. The kicker is, Assimilation is our choice. Jews are the fault behind that. So Tish B'Av is an important holiday to observe the situation and do all in our power so that we don't have to fast next year.

Behind every great man is a great woman, and behinder his is his wife.

The beginning of this week was a bit rough. I woke up from a nap and had the feeling that I was dumped. You know that feeling? Like someone had hit you in the chest with a rock and loneliness wells up within. Yea, not so fun. I don't even know what happened. I think it's because the one good friend that I made here, Daniel "Chocolate Chip"riani went back to the states. With him I fought off the Republican-Conservative majority. Now, I'm the only liberal that I know of (or at least one that is brave/stupid enough to admit in public). So I just shy away from political conversations. But Cipriani and I had similar upbringings, both being from CT and partying a lot in college. Which, now that I think of it, is not that rare. But as for the friend thing, I just need to keep plugging away to find my groove. There are lots of great people here from different backgrounds on different levels of life. While I don't necessarilly see any "best friends" like the kind I have back in the US, there's lots of potential.
The beginning of the week, my hebrew teacher lost his mother to what seems like a quick illness. It was the first time I've seen Jewish mourning. The mourning includes not doing anything for a week. You sit in a chair that very low to the ground and people come to visit you. As a visitor, you don't speak until spoken to. I think that's great, because how many times does one need to hear "I'm sorry..." when there's nothing else to be said. The whole process is surprisingly relaxed.
Back in the states in 2 weeks!

Riot on Shabbat, Refuse the Nation

For the past month, Orthodox Jews (the ones dressed in black with the long side-burn thingys I call "boing-a-boings") have been rioting the opening of a parking lot that's intended to be open on Shabbat. They riot on Shabbat. People have been hurt and the parking lot has remained closed as a result of their actions. Shabbat is a day of rest and study. These certain Orthodox Jews ( and I stress certain because I don't want people who read this to generalize to all Orthodox Jews) who do not participate in the army, when there are religious options, feel like they can disturb the peace about a parking lot that is nowhere near their religious area of Mea Sharim. Instead, they should be studing Torah or spending time with their families. I guess they forget that this is a secular country and all they are doing is casting a poor light on the Orthodox and religious Jews in general.
Anyways...I went to a museum for Menachem Begin (pronounced Bay-gen) that was really cool. He was all for the state of Israel and was able to get things done. He wasn't a Hawk and focused on Israel from the inside out. A policy I like. Maybe America could do the same. But who am I to talk, I haven't been back in the states in half a year. But that will change shortly in less than a month.
Life is good though. Tonight I will be having dinner with Rabbi Elbaz, a highly-intelligent man with a great sense of humor. Well time to go for a run in the heat. See a lot of you soon!

Meaning of Life is Pleasure

That's what the Rosh Yeshiva said. That we are here to experience the best that life has to offer and we have everything we could ever need. Beautiful mountains, and flowers, ice cream, wireless internet yadda yadda yadda. So yea, life is pretty amazing. That realization itself is worth the threat of rocket-propelled grenades (kidding mom, in case you read this).

This Shabbat was at the school and was fun. Friday night especially. Lots of wine and whiskey.
I shocked my father when I told him that orthodox jews drink. Haha. Wait, did I write that in a previous post? Hm, don't remember (in literary terms, we call that a stream of consciousness).
RIP Michael Jackson. As screwed up as you were, you made a lot of people happy and gave away lots of money and time for charities.

Oh yea, Republican leaders Nevada Sen. John Ensign's and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford get "caught" having extramarital affairs. Now for those who are unaware, the orthodox community can be generalized as "righties." It's hard to find anyone here, and all of Israel for that matter, that does not want Obama dead. But it's the same righties that vote for these GOP members that keep having affairs, yet Judaism teaches about, well, not doing that. All Republicans should be pissed off right now. You hated Clinton for that remember? If you don't have anything nice to say, let the Republicans say it for you. Sorry, I thought that was funny.

Tomorrow begins another week. I'll be going to Tel Aviv on Tuesday with my friend Daniel Cippriani to visit a friend of his. I haven't spent time there other than a visit to the Mediterranean, enhancing the experience with Jellyfish stings. So I'm pumped. I wish a good week to everyone!

Girls and automatic weapons

What a great day. Sun is out, the sky is blue, and teenage girls walk around with automatic weapons laughing like they haven't a care in the world. Only Israel!
The beginning of the week was a bit rough. I had a case of the Summertime Blues (to quote The Who), after realizing that everyone outside of this world is running around, going to beaches, having BBQ's and what not. One memory I especially miss is driving around Saratoga Springs with the windows down.
But that's all those are--thoughts. What I'm doing here is incredible. Everyday I grow more than I had in the years prior to coming here. I understand myself better as I dissect my personality and look at areas I want to improve (e.g. my arrogance). And I was getting frustrated (the arrogance) with my studies because I feel like I'm falling behind. What a humbling experience! It's like being born all over again in a sense, because I'm learning a new language and a new way of thinking. I'm seeing the world in a new light--and it's awesome. No drugs needed!
But I'm better now. Back on track.

Lovin' it's what I got

(My brother and his family and our tour guide Modi)
I don't know what to write, so I'll ramble...
The weather here...I didn't plan well. It's hot. Real hot.
I miss seeing people at home. Like if I was home in CT, a three hour trip could bring me to so many of my close friends. Jacob, Yolande, Chris, the Great Batzellini, and Amanda to name a couple. I miss my eccentric yet lovable family that probably think I've gone off the deep end (little do they know I did many years ago). I miss the California crew of Kennon and Capital T Smith.
Because of everybody, I've developed into someone I'm proud to be with good room for improvement.
Speaking of home, I will be in CT in 47 days (some time around then).
I will summarize this week in the word "trials." I was aware of the trials with people pushing my buttons or catching myself getting frustrated with my Hebrew or Aramaic lessons. In Israel exists JST--Jewish Standard Time, no one is on time for anything. But every step I have people to laugh with, rant with, mockingly throw off my keepa (that small peice of cloth on my head), have a drink with, and bash Republicans with. Being aware of one thing inevitably increases your sensitivity to its opposite. As I became more aware of what irked me, I became attune to what and who I really enjoyed. I wish everyone the same pleasure.

So it's been a little while

Since I last posted. Things are continuing on as normal.
My brother, his wife Catherine, and daughter Ella (2 years old) were here in Israel last week. I finally got a chance to tour around Israel!
I saw the ancient water port of Caesura on the Mediterranean with waters that I've only seen in photographs, it was that beautiful. Then we continued up the coast to Haifa and saw the B'Hai Temple. That place has money flowing out the waz-oo. Beautiful gardens. Try asking them what their faith believes and it sounds something like, "we believe in everything!" Don't exactly know what that means but they do believe in every prophet and every writing. The only thing is that every prophet outside of each religion says something different (Jewish, Islamic, Christian...) that they must pick and choose what they want to believe. Kudos. Kind of like baloney meat...made from many different parts of many different animals.
Then we spent two days in Tiberius on the Kinneret (known to the world as the Sea of Galilee). Talk about beautiful! Surrounded by mountains and desert, the air was crisp and cool. Tiberius has the spiritual element of water. Israel, which is in the worst drought it ever had, looks like it could use more of that element. I joked that considering how low the water level was, even I could walk across the water. (Tiberius is adjacent to the town where it is told Jesus walked across the water and performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes).
Went up into the wine country of Golan Heights...beautiful.
Went to a utopia with light green waters coming out of a natural spring that made a waterfall where people could swim. Beautiful.
Went to the Dead Sea. People, if you don't go to the Dead Sea and float on the waters, you're missing out on an experience. It is IMPOSSIBLE to sink. I kid you not. You can't sink. You don't float in the water but float ON the water. Supper trippy.
Then we went to the desert fortress of Messada overlooking the Dead Sea. It's hard to believe the magnitude of that place being so high up on top of a mountain where there was a city!
After all was said and done, I came back to school. Apparently my brother wants to buy a house in Israel now :)....who would've thought?
Now I must go do, that voodoo, that Jews do!